5 months

I can hardly believe that in 5 months we will be getting married!! I was up from 2-3:30am last night thinking about all that I have to get done in just 5 months. I didn't think I would start panicking till after the 1st of the year but after going to my cousins wedding last weekend, I am realizing how much stuff I still need to do!

BRIDESMAID DRESSES!! I never thought that I would be this close to the wedding and still not have bridesmaid dresses! The gray I am wanting them to be is VERY hard to come by. I am hopefully going to go dress shopping Saturday.

Flower girl dresses-I think I have found the one I want, need to order it (x3)

Invitations-I have already found the ones I want and the website said they ship in 2-3 days so I am not going to order them till beginning of January so I can have them mailed out in Feb or March

Linens-This is a new one on the list. Our reception venue has white tablecloths and napkins but now I think I want some color on the table so I am thinking about either getting colored tablecloths OR colored napkins

Centerpieces-I know what I want to do for half the tables but I am not sure about the other half. I LOVED my cousins centerpieces but they rented them and I haven't been able to find anywhere around Manhattan that rents them

Church music- The pastor gave me a list of musicians, I just need to start calling them!

Videographer-I thought I had just decided against having a videographer because I can only find super expensive ones but the more I think about it, the more I really want someone their capturing our wedding day

Honeymoon-Need to get it booked (we should probably decided where we want to go as well) and get our passports

I think that's my list for now. There are a lot of little things (candelabra, unity candle, etc) that needs to still be done but I am thinking I can put that off till at least Feb :)

5 months to go!

Thanksgiving break

Last Wednesday afternoon, Derek, myself, Elsie, my brother Tony, and my mom piled into my car and headed to my aunt and uncles in Springfield, MO. When we were about an hour away we hear on the radio that there are tornados! We quickly call my aunt and uncle and they said the tornadoes were very close to us but we should be ok. Tornadoes in November?! Who woulda thought! We made it safe and sound to their house and had some beverages and just caught up with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins.

Thursday most of the house slept in and then we just relaxed until we had our amazing Thanksgiving feast at 3:00 (we had to wait for my cousin and his girlfriend to get back from her familys Thanksgiving). It went from tornadoes the night before to freezing rain and sleet on Thursday. Only in Kansas! A few people napped while everyone else just layed around after stuffing our bellies. That evening we had a fun night of poker and rock band!

Friday some of us did some shopping and running errands for the wedding. My sisters and their families arrived that afternoon and most of us headed to the wedding rehearsal. After the rehearsal we all went to the rehearsal dinner at Big Whiskeys. We watched the wedding video my aunt did so well on and then played darts and card games (all while drinking of course).

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Saturday was the wedding so my cousin Kayla (the bride), my aunt, mom, grandma, and me headed to the salon to get our hair done with the other bridesmaids. Us girls spent the day getting ready and taking pictures and then had an awesome time at the wedding. My aunt and cousin did such an amazing job on the wedding and my cousin looked SO beautiful. It's gonna be a hard wedding to beat! We drank and danced till about 1am then all headed back to my aunt and uncles to sleep before heading home the next morning.

(Click collage to enlarge)

I am one exhausted girl today! I think I needed 1 more day of recovery before having to chase after the twins (yes, 1 is FINALLY crawling)! Early bedtime tonight!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Friday night Derek and I (with the help of my mom) put our Christmas tree up! I know it's early but I love Christmas season and I just don't think waiting till after Thanksgiving to put up the tree gives me enough time to admire its beauty :)I already had some red bulbs I had got on sale after Christmas last year so I decided to do the tradional red and green on our Christmas tree. I don't have a very good pic of it because the lights on the tree were on so I'll have to take some more during the day.
Hopefully next year we will have a house and Derek can do this...

Our photographer is still working on getting ALL our pictures up on an online gallery and sending me a slideshow but Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE Christmas cards to bloggers! I decided that since we didn't do save the dates, I am going to do Christmas cards so we will atleast get some use out of our engagement pics! Here are a few or the 748 they offer that I like (and yes, I went through them ALL):

Go to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery to look at all their Christmas cards. Even if you don't have a blog, you can still get these cards for a very reasonable price. They have flat ones, folded ones, etc and you can put just 1 picture or numerous pictures on there. And if your already busy baking cookies, buying Christmas presents, etc, Shutterfly will stamp and mail them for you! I need this kind of deal for my wedding invitations! I'm so excited to do ours and hope to start a tradition for us. Hopefully next year at this time we'll have a little one on the way :)

I can't wait to go down to the Plaza and look at all the lights and maybe talk Derek into taking me on a carriage ride!

37 days 'til Christmas!!

Birthdays 1&2 of 5

Derek and I have 6 amazing nieces and nephews that we love SO much but they are going to make their auntie and uncle go broke! Between the 6 of them, 5 of them are born in November and December! Some within days apart! It makes birthday parties a little easier cause we can knock out 2 in one weekend but of all the months of the year, why oh why do our sisters feel the need to have babies RIGHT before Christmas (or a couple days after for 1 of them). It's a good thing their all so cute!

Last weekend we headed to Halle's 3rd birthday on Saturday. It was Little Mermaid theme and she had an adorable Little Mermaid cake and decorations. I'm so mad because my sister had my camera so I only got a couple pictures on my phone. We had a good time celebrating with Derek's friends and family and can't wait to see Halle in the K-State cheerleading outfit we got her!

After Halle's party we headed to El Dorado because my sister needed us to watch the kids while her and her husband went to a concert Saturday night. Sunday was Paxton's 3rd birthday party and he had a fishing theme party. My sister did an awesome job on his cupcakes and the decorations. Derek and I got him some clothes and a train set that he had set up before we even left. I think Harper maybe liked it more then him!

*Derek and I WILL not (unless it happens unexpectedly) have a baby in the months of November or December. The 6th niece has a birthday in Feb. so we are shooting for April-Sep*

Other pics from the weekend:

Next birthday: Harper's 1st!! Here is a preview of her outfit (1 of them). Her and Aiden are born 3 days apart so they are having a conjoined little buckaroo party. Harper will be wearing cowboy boots instead of these leggings.

Halloween Weekend!!

This weekend we went back to Manhattan for our last home football game (they still have 1 more home game but we can't make it to it). We got in around 8 on Friday and after hanging out with my dad and Kelly for a little bit, we went into Willies to have a couple drinks with Amber, Mike, Cortney, and Ashley. We called it an early night because we were getting up early on Saturday.

It was an 11:00 game so we ate some yummy breakfast my dad made and headed up to tailgate at 9:30 (we were running a little late). We met some of Derek's friends up at the game and just tailgated all through the game because we couldn't find tickets. After the game we headed back out to my dads to eat and take naps before heading into Willies. We stayed at Willies till about 9 then headed to Aggieville! I think it had been atleast 6 months since we had been out in the Ville. It was fun to go to some new bars we hadn't been too and see everyone dressed up.

We all ate at Willies before heading out of town (if you haven't noticed, we live at Willies when we are in town) on Sunday. My nephew Aiden had been with his grandparents for the weekend so they brought him to Manhattan Sunday before we all headed back to KC. He was ssssooo cute dressed up as a cowboy.We had a great weekend and I am sad we probably won't be back to Manhattan till Christmas :(

On a side note, I would like to wish my nephew Paxton a very happy 3rd birthday. Love you Pax!